Departmental Records and DIFP

Each Division holds administrative and policy files relating to its particular area of responsibility including Ministerial and other correspondence. Certain Divisions, including Corporate Services Division, Consular Division and the Passport Office also hold records containing personal information.

Documents on Irish Foreign Affairs

The Documents on Irish Foreign Policy project delves into the archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs to give you a fascinating look at how our foreign policy has developed since 1919.

About the project

We’ve been working with the Royal Irish Academy and the National Archives of Ireland since 1997 to bring you the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy project, an absorbing series a publications of source material from our archives.

These publications are essential reading for any student of modern Irish history and can be downloaded free or bought in hardback online.

New volume just published - Documents on Irish Foreign Policy XIII (1965-69)

Micheál Martin TD - Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, officially launched Volume XIII in the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series on 21 February 2023 at the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

The volume, which documents Irish foreign policy in the period from April 1965 to July 1969, is a milestone as it represents the completion of the documenting of the first fifty years of Irish foreign policy. 

Volume XIII highlights the strong commitment that Ireland has long had to the international rules based order and how in the 1960s, Ireland as a nation worked tirelessly to secure and maintain peace across the globe, through the United Nations and other international bodies. 

Ireland's efforts to secure international peace, at both the political and official levels were recognised when Ireland, as the long standing champion of nuclear non-proliferation, was invited to be the first signatory of the ground-breaking July 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The volume documents the refocussed efforts of all government departments to secure Ireland's admittance to the European Economic Community, following the 1962 veto exercised by France which blocked the entry of new members to the community.

It also documents the period leading up to he eruption of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the emphasis that was placed on developing & strengthening Dublin's relations with Belfast and London and the emergence of a whole generation of leaders on the island, who had a vision of a better Ireland, one that placed true equality at its heart.   

Tánaiste Martin when launching the volume said – "in this, the 25^th Anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement, we are especially conscious of the transformative effect peace agreements have had on this island.  Contacts between the Irish Government and all parties in Northern Ireland are regular and routine and relationships have been and will continue to be built on trust, parity of esteem, and respect.  The Government of Ireland will always seek to listen to, and engage with, all those in Northern Ireland who seek a better future."